Casualty of Love
by SarahhHarkness-Jones
Summary: Talking therapy; something advised to the loved ones of coma patients, in order to help them with the coping process. After a fatal car crash, Jack is left in a deep coma, in which the Doctors are uncertain if he'll awake from, but the team won't give up. Ianto will not give up on his Captain.


**Title: Casualty of Love  
****Spoilers: Minor Cyberwoman spoilers  
****Prompt: Coma  
****Copyright: I do not own Torchwood, or any member of the Torchwood team.**

"You probably can't hear me, so I don't even know why I'm bothering talking to you. Gwen told me to try it; she said she talks to you every time she comes to see you. She said it helps. It isn't helping. Knowing that I'm talking and you can't reply." Ianto sighed, a frown on his face and he enveloped his fingers between Jacks'.

The Captain was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to multiple machines that were keeping him alive. A heart monitor, showing that his heart beat was constant, not beating faster like it usually would when Ianto was in his presence, a nasal cannula attached to his nose, wrapping round behind his ears supplying Jack with oxygen, and a drip in his left arm, maintaining his liquid levels so he wouldn't dehydrate.

"I don't know what I'm meant to say here. Thank you? No, because I'm not grateful for what you did Jack, I'm mad. You should have just left me, and then you wouldn't be in this position. I know you say you can't die, but what if that isn't true? What if you can? What if right now you're slowly dying, and this time you won't come back?"

Ianto was angry at the Captain, he had never before been this angry at Jack, especially not for saving his life. Despite the fact that Jack had done that, Ianto was furious. By saving him, Jack had put himself in danger, not enough danger to kill him, no that would have been so much simpler, but just enough danger to put him into a deep coma. A coma that after 3 months now, he had yet to awaken from.

"I wouldn't be able to go on living without you. I know we're just causal, no real feelings or emotions involved, that was what we had agreed on, but I care for you Jack. I care for you a lot. A little too much sometimes."

Ianto also ended up badly injured, having been in the driver's seat of the car at the time of the crash, only him and Jack there at the time; he was in the worst position. A drunken driver, driving down the wrong side of the road caused a head on collision with the SUV, and two other vehicles. The other car having been filled with numerous alcoholic beverages, caught fire, exploding, and spending the car flying into the air, landing on top of the Torchwood car. Ianto was trapped, but Jack could escape easily, only a few minor injuries to his head and arms.

"Owen keeps checking over your file each time he visits, Tosh tells him off when he says the Nurses have done something wrong. She keeps telling him to stop getting involved, and to let them do their job. They're together now Jack, because of you. And Rhys proposed to Gwen last week. Everyone is happy in their relationships, all except for me."

Ianto had begged for Jack to leave him, he was losing a lot of blood, and he knew he wouldn't make it. He could see the petrol leaking from one of the turned over cars, and the flames that were inching closer and closer to it. He knew how this would end, and it wasn't pretty.

"I bet you want to know how it happened, Tosh and Owen. When you wake up I bet you'll tease them for it, I know you, so don't try and deny it."

Despite his protests, the Captain stayed. Of course he did, Jack was the hero, not the coward. Whether it put his life in danger or not, he always stayed to help. And this was Ianto Jones who was trapped, not some random person who meant nothing to Jack. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but Ianto meant a lot to the Captain.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone that you know. I'm sure they want to tell you for themselves when you wake up, so that they can see your face. Plus, Tosh won't tell you the real story, she'll tell you the one they made up to save embarrassment. Don't worry, you'll know the real one, I wouldn't want you to miss out on any office gossip."

Jack had managed to get Ianto out the car, the Welshman hobbling over to the side of the motorway to where the other victims of the crash were huddled up. Police, ambulance and fire service sirens could be heard in the distance, just as Jack was climbing out the car. The flames were now closer than ever to the large pool of petrol liquid, licking at the pavement, a sea of orange creeping closer and closer.

"It was a couple of days after the accident, I was still in hospital, they were just about to discharge me, and Owen wasn't too happy about it. He said that I wasn't ready to leave, started threatening that he'd sue the hospital, swearing and shouting and waving his ID around, they almost kicked him out. You should have seen it. I don't think he wanted me to leave the hospital, because he knew I'd be going to an empty house, he was worried about my safety. Imagine that Jack, Owen Harper, our Owen worried about me, the Tea-Boy, the Captain's part-time shag."

Ianto had tried to scream for Jack to hurry up, but he was too late. Silence filled the area, before a piercing screech, a deafening blow, and a bright light, all so forceful it knocked Ianto off his feet, the other witnesses too.

Ianto had scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible, ignoring the burning feeling in his hands and face, the fact he couldn't hear anything other than a high pitched beeping noise, and his vision that was slightly blurred. He ignored the painful feeling in his foot, which he would later find out was broken in 3 places, and the stabbing in his chest, caused by 2 broken ribs. He ran towards where Jack's body was lying, crumbled on the floor, his eyes filling with unshed tears.

"Anyway, Tosh tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't have any of it, then she kissed him. That was how she shut him up, with a kiss. A forceful, rather hot actually, kiss. Who would have thought it? I never thought she had it in her. Well, obviously they had forgotten about me, because they ended up using half my bed, and only stopped when the Doctor came in with the discharge form for me to sign. Then the shouting began again, well it is Owen after all. He was trying to look out for me I suppose."

"And that's how it began, and I was there to witness it. Beautiful thing, the start of a relationship is. The hope in their eyes, the promises that it will last forever. I love that, I loved seeing the start of a relationship. Especially for Tosh and Owen, after how long Tosh has been pining over him."

"But we never had that, did we Jack? That start of a relationship. We're not even in a proper relationship. What are we?"

Ianto sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows against the hospital bed. It had been a long day at the Hub, with them having a man down; their leader down, the pressure from UNIT was on the remaining team members. And with Ianto still not having fully recovered from his injuries caused by the crash, it was down to Tosh, Owen and Gwen to handle everything out in the field.

"Why am I even bothering asking, you can't answer me. Even if you were awake, you wouldn't answer me. You'd just change the subject like usual. You're brilliant at doing that Jack, I've got to give it to you. You're wonderful at changing the subject, and making it seem like it was my idea to change it, diverting the conversation away from topics that you don't want to talk about. And it's always about us, isn't it? That's when you always seem to change the subject, when we're talking about our relationship. What we are. What we could be. Why we're doing this. Why are we doing this? I mean, I know why I'm doing this, you're irresistible Jack, and you know it. But why are you involved with me?"

It was a question that had been playing on Ianto's mind ever since they started whatever it was they had together. He had just never bucked up enough courage to ask the Captain. But now he had, he had been through enough over the past few months to realise that he was stronger than he originally thought he was, it was just a shame that Jack was no awake to see his lover's new found confidence.

"It's not like you have nobody else you could go to. Gwen obviously seems up for it, I don't know what would drop first, her knickers to the floor, or her knees."

Despite the fact that no one else could hear what he had just said, Ianto felt awful. Gwen didn't deserve to be bad mouthed, and definitely not now. She had been so lovely to him, caring for him, looking after him and making sure that he was okay. She had become the mother of Torchwood whilst Jack was gone. Not in charge, no that had become Owen's job, but she was the one who watched over them all, she even made the tea until Ianto's foot was better and he could walk properly again.

"Shit, that was uncalled for. You've made me bitter Jack, that's why you need to wake up, and wake up soon."

The tears began to form again in Ianto's eyes, the thoughts of Jack not waking up were flooding into his mind again, no matter how many time he tried to repress them.

"You make me happy when you're around, Jack. Really happy. More confident too. I wouldn't have thought this time last year that I'd have the courage to stand up to Owen, or be going out into the field with you, or just be anything other than that guy who makes you coffee."

"And I definitely never thought that you would take an interest in me, even if it is just purely sexual. You're Captain Jack Harkness, leader of Torchwood, incredibly attractive, and indestructible. I'm nothing compared to you. When I'm gone, you won't remember me. I'll just be another passing memory in your life. But you're used to that, meeting people, maybe even loving people, and then watching them leave. I'm not. I'm only human Jack, I can't deal with anymore loss in my life right now."

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the tears from falling. Only now did he feel lucky that Jack wasn't awake to see him like this, to see him so vulnerable. He couldn't help it, the past few months had been nothing but disaster after disaster for the Welshman, and it seemed never ending. He couldn't cope anymore.

"The thing is Jack, I'm scared. I'm scared about losing someone else, after Lisa I didn't think I could ever feel like- I didn't think I could ever lo-"

Ianto was cut off by the visiting bell ringing through the hospital ward, signally that visiting hours were now over. Sighing, Ianto stood from the chair wiping his wet eyes as he glanced at the clock on the wall. He hadn't realised the time, it had gone so quickly, quicker than all the other times he had been here. He briefly wondered if this was because, unlike all other visits, Ianto had been talking to Jack, rather than just sitting, staring at his older lovers sleeping form.

"I have to go now," he smiled down at Jack's still form, "I'll see you tomorrow." He whispered, placing a light kiss against his lover's lips, gently rubbing his hand over his cold cheek, before leaving the room silently.

_**~tw~ **_

"There has been major improvement in Jack's health," Ianto overheard one of the Nurses tell a Senior Doctor the next morning, "It's amazing really. So quickly as well, when there were no signs of slow recovery."

His heart briefly fluttered, that little spark of hope inside of him that prayed Jack had woken up, but of course he pushed that feeling to the side as quickly as it came. He had built his hopes up too many times within the past 3 months, only to have them crushed when he walked back into Jack's sterile hospital room, to see him still lying in bed, motionless and in a deep, unwakeable sleep.

In his hands were a set of _Get Well Soon _cards that had been delivered to the Torchwood Hub from various members of UNIT, and a bunch of flowers that Ianto's sister insisted on sending, despite the fact she had never before met Jack, and Jack was in fact a bloke who probably wouldn't appreciate a bunch of white Roses.

Upon entering the room, Ianto couldn't take his gaze off the floor. The Nurse had said there was major improvement in Jack's health, but what did that mean? Did it mean he looked more alive, than he did before? Ianto found it easier to see Jack as being more dead than alive. The pale, worn looking Jack didn't give him false hope.

"Those for me?" a cheeky, rather croaky American voice questioned.

Ianto looked up from his fixed position on the floor, to see Jack sitting up in bed, a happy grin on his face, a small plastic pot of red coloured jelly in his hand, a white plastic spoon in the other.

"Jack?" Ianto questioned, wondering if he was really seeing this, or if he was hallucinating, or maybe even dreaming. He'd had this dream too many times now, his subconscious playing mean tricks on him.

"Miss me?" The Captains lips formed into a grin as he placed the plastic spoon back into the small jelly pot. Ianto dropped the flowers and cards to the floor, not caring about the mess that they had made, or the fact that flowers were now crushed. He had his Captain back, he didn't care about anything else. It was mere seconds later that he had Jack in a bone crushing hug, Ianto half on the bed, half off.

"I love you." He whispered into Jack's ear without a second thought. The pot of jelly that Jack had previously been eating was now turned upside down, squashed between the two men, as Jack wrapped his arms tightly around Ianto. He didn't reply to what Ianto had said, there was no need to. He just pulled his lover closer, so close that almost every part of their bodies were touching.

The jelly was seeping through Ianto's shirt, making it sticky and wet, but he didn't care. He had Jack back. He had the man he loved back in his arms, right where he belonged.

_**fin**_

_****_**Authors Note: This was inspired by _The Dead Line _Radio Drama because I adored it when Ianto was talking to Jack. **


End file.
